The chequered history of Greek politics since 1945 suggests that where there is a vacuum there is often trouble. Never was that more apparent than in the decade following the global financial crisis that erupted in 2007, when the country was slowly but inexorably swallowed up by the empty promises of populism.
Greece’s embrace of a populist-led government was relatively short. But the damage was profound. The country I inherited when I was elected prime minister in 2019 was widely seen as the sick man of Europe.
Today Greece finds itself in a different place. In 2023 we were named The Economist’s country of the year; we have also topped the newspaper’s economic ranking two years running.… Seguir leyendo »
Greece has a new prime minister. Kyriakos Mitsotakis took office immediately after leading his conservative New Democracy party to a landslide victory in the country’s general election on July 7. His dramatic victory ended 4½ of government by Alexis Tsipras and his far-left Syriza party. And that’s why the significance of this election extends well beyond Greece: Mitsotakis has shown how a traditionally oriented party can take on populists — and defeat them.
Syriza’s left-wing populism was based mostly on anti-market bias, a bit of technophobia and a strong measure of social envy. This kind of populism can be defeated relatively easily in liberal democracies — simply because the numbers don’t add up.… Seguir leyendo »
Sunday’s parliamentary elections amounted to a stinging defeat for both left and right populism in Greece. After a long slog in bailout purgatory, and 4½ years under a populist government of the hard left and the nationalist right, Greeks turned decisively to the establishment center-right New Democracy party, led by Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Now it is up to the new prime minister to deliver the reforms that will permanently consign the forces of extremism to the margins.
Ousted prime minister Alexis Tsipras, leader of the leftist Syriza party, came to power promising to end austerity and rid the country of the endemic corruption of the old political system.… Seguir leyendo »
There was a moment, at the height of the Greek debt crisis in July 2015, when many Athenians went to sleep expecting to wake up in a different country. One Greek academic told me he feared Greece would crash out of the euro currency overnight, that there would be no money in the banks in the morning, that there would be food shortages and then riots: “Greece is a middle-class country”, he told me. “I didn’t think we would be able to cope with the shock”. Several others told me that they had genuinely expected the arrival of a Venezuelan-style dictatorship, perhaps with tanks on the street.… Seguir leyendo »
It may just be coincidence, but in the year since a radical left movement and an extreme right-wing party joined forces to govern Greece, the resilience of the European Union has been tested. But it may be also that the forces released in Greece have emerged in many other countries, poisoning relations among member states.
The glue that holds Greece’s paradoxical coalition together, and which we see across Europe, is populism. Not some coherent ideology that puts the people’s interests first, but a policy based on opportunism, on cultivating a grandiose sense of national identity and then presenting that identity as being threatened by domestic and foreign enemies.… Seguir leyendo »
A medida que confluyen tres tempestades diferentes (la crisis griega, la incursión rusa en Ucrania y el ascenso de los partidos populistas), el futuro económico de Europa se va cubriendo de nubes negras. Aunque cada una es una amenaza importante, gracias a la reciente recuperación del ciclo económico es posible abordarlas por separado y sin correr el riesgo de sufrir más que algunas perturbaciones temporales. Sin embargo, si se convierten en una especie de “tormenta perfecta” será muy difícil volver a los buenos tiempos.
En estos momentos, las tres se encuentran en etapas de formación diferentes. Tras haberse ido acumulando por años, la crisis griega está a punto de estallar.… Seguir leyendo »
La Grèce est le seul pays européen qui ait plongé aussi violemment dans la crise et qui ait vécu une situation analogue à celle des années 1930. Dans les périodes de grande crise, les mouvements des électeurs sont motivés par la déception, par l’angoisse, par la colère, mais aussi par la capacité d’un parti à offrir une perspective différente pour la résolution de la crise. Celle-ci bouleverse les comportements traditionnels et atténue l’importance des clivages hérités, les transferts de voix obéissant moins à une logique de glissements le long de l’axe gauche-droite.
En effet, Syriza n’est pas devenu une force politique puissante parce qu’il a adopté une politique modérée tournée vers le centre.… Seguir leyendo »
Mañana, 29 de diciembre, está prevista la tercera y última ronda de votaciones en Grecia para elegir a un nuevo presidente. El voto no tendría mayor importancia si no fuera porque puede precipitar un terremoto político en Atenas con potenciales seísmos en toda la eurozona. Si el primer ministro, Antonis Samaras, no logra encontrar el apoyo de 180 diputados para que su candidato salga elegido tendrá que convocar elecciones anticipadas al Parlamento heleno. En ese escenario Syriza probablemente ganaría y lideraría un Gobierno de coalición en Grecia. Syriza, como Podemos, ha prometido cambiar de arriba abajo las reglas del juego en la eurozona ¿Pero podrán realmente cambiarlas?… Seguir leyendo »
Utilizamos cookies para el correcto funcionamiento de la página web y analíticas para estadísticas.ACEPTARPolítica de privacidad
